Reviews

Going into this movie I didn't know what to expect..I never went to the movie's website or read up about what the movie was going to be like yadda yadda ya....

When I saw it...I had mixed feelings about it after seeing it....

the story was interesting, post apocalyptic world, destroyed by evil machines, and these little dolls are the only ones left....

however, the story was a little thin in some parts..especially with the characters...you never really learned WHY they wanted to survive, what was driving them to survive, what hope they had...it was basically them hiding away from the evil robots..none of them really speak of their past..I only found myself caring for a few of them...its only until the main character comes into the story and changes everything....

I dunno...its hard to describe but it just seemed like it needed more...there is nothing wrong with leaving things open ended..leaving things open for people to use their imaginations..but if you don't do it right, it ends up just confusing people..and especially with the context of the movie where there are a lot of questions that come up because its in a post apocalyptic setting..the story should be a little stronger....

That aside, for what it was it was still good..the visuals were very nice, the character designs were appealing..animation was good its just the writing and the story of this film could have been a little stronger

I finally went out and saw the dubbed version of this on the big screen. For the dub, having seen the original version of it with subs, the dub is watchable. Little kids watching this aren't going to know the difference.

Onto the movie...

I was super excited about seeing this, and after I saw it...I kind of had mixed feelings about it.

One has to realize its target audience is obviously little children..so its more of a light and fluffy story like Totoro, but even then, a movie can be made for children but still enjoyed by adults...this film didn't quite do that.

Don't get me wrong, the story was nice...little girl fish wants to become a human and falls in love with a little boy. It definitely has its magical moments but it is no way on the same level as Miyazaki's more recent work, Spirited Away or Howl's Flying Castle, nor is Ponyo's story as deep as those two. Not that it needed to be super deep, but, I dunno, the whole story just felt lacking in some parts. Also some of the characters were a tad...shallow.

Ponyo shows that she has magical powers and can do incredible things, but her character is just a silly cute little girl-fish obsessed with ham. Sosuke tries to be a mature, responsible little adult, which is put across pretty well. The mother was done well enough but in some part with her it was a bit "ehh..." halfway through the movie we learn that in order for the world to be saved Sosuke must prove his love to Ponyo, but besides trying to get her to safety after she starts losing her powers and then declaring his love for her to Ponyo's mother. Nothing else really special happens; there is no big finish. Although I suppose one could argue it wasn't necessary *shrug* As for the appearance/animation of the film...the animation was definitely not as good as what you see in some of the other films which was a little disappointing. It was kind of odd...all the aquatic stuff, everything in the ocean, all the ocean critters, the water, was all done beautifully. The opening scene was amazing and the scene where the tsunami starts and Ponyo is running on the giant fish made me tear up because it was such a gorgeous animation sequence, all the parts with the Goddess was fantastic, and the Goddess herself looked incredible, Fujimoto was done pretty well too yet the other character animation wasn't super-great...and in some scenes it was pretty bad. Plus many of the characters were super simplified. Like the old women. When you look at Howl's Flying Castle and see the Witch of the Waste when she is a old lady and then look at the old ladies in Ponyo you're just like "huh?" also, with the backgrounds, specially in the city there isn't as much attention to detail. Some backgrounds look like they were hastily colored. Maybe this was the design they wanted but I dunno...

Its just...one would think with this being the most recent film all the animation and appearance of everything else would be more improved than the last film, but with this film its like it took a couple steps back..

So, in conclusion, the movie is pretty good but nowhere as good as some of Miyazaki's older work. I heard a rumor that Hayao Miyazaki's son directed the film yet its Hayao's name in the credits, so I dunno about that.

as a huge fan of Miyazaki's work I still enjoyed this very much. It's was a little disappointing in some aspects, but still a great film nevertheless.

I find it very amusing reading all these horrible reviews for this movie..I should point out a few important things that should cover any critique for this film

1. It was Directed by Michael Bay 2. It is a Michael Bay sequel 3. It was co-produced by Steven Spielberg(please go watch the 4th Indiana Jones movie for more reference.)

so if you enjoy watching mind numbing, relentless action with tons of explosions, insane effects and CGI characters than this movie is quite entertaining...those looking for something more than that, look elsewhere cos you will be very disappointed.

people going to see this film expecting to see something great are complete morons. really. I went to see this film with low expectations expecting to see nothing but hardcore action, explosions every 5 minutes and insane Transformer battles and that is what I got so I can't say I was really too disappointed after seeing the movie...

sure the people who have given this movie poor reviews made good points about many things about this film but uh....need I bring up those 3 points I made at the beginning of this review?

bottom line is you ain't gonna get much from a Michael Bay film expect intense action and explosions with more explosions.

visually the movie was extremely entertaining...yeah in some of the battles so much action was happening up so close you couldn't tell what was going on..but otherwise all the scenes with the Transformers fighting each other and the Decepticons annihilating everything was pretty sweet..and the designs for the new Decepticons *hnnng* the Decepticon in the Shanghai scene, Soundwave, and Devastator were awesome as were the rest...

I guess my biggest critiques would revolve around the Transformers themselves which would be that, because so much story and action was crammed into this movie and time was wasted on scenes that didn't need to be so long..further character development for the Autobots was left out..the other Autobots seemed to be pushed away and didn't get much screen time at all..it seemed like they were in car form more than anything else..also it needed moar Bumblebee..there really wasn't any more chara development for him, and he still couldn't talk..since he was plastered all over the movie posters one would think he'd get a big role in this movie but he didn't...I think the Autobots that got the most attention where the ghetto black gangster twin Autobots who just got really annoying after a while....and then when Optimus Prime was finally resurrected and got his upgrades from the Irish turned good Decepticon I expected to see a epic final battle but all this happened at the very end of the movie so the battle only lasted like 5 minutes with Megatron and Starscream quickly pussying out and then the Fallen getting pwned by Optimus Prime in 2 minutes..it could have been a little longer..I mean the Fallen hardly got in on the action at all.. 95% of the movie he was incapacitated in Decepticon planet, and then he did his lil broadcast to the world and then at the very end of the movie came outta nowhere to try and launch his sun destroyer weapon and finally fight Optimus Prime..I think he deserved something more I mean his name is in the freaking title of the movie lol. I did enjoy the relationship between Megatron and Starscream tho.

so yeah i'll stop there...apparently there is going to be a third movie who knows what the hell Michael Bay will do with that one most likely triple the action and explosions..

I gave this movie 7/10 because of my fulfilled expectations for this movie..not based on some credible, expert critique/judgment that SHOULD be given to this movie as a whole or however you wanna put it.

don't get me wrong it would be great to see this series be as good as other films based on books/comics like the newest Batman movies or the LOTR series but with Michael Bay behind the wheel your not gonna get anything like that sorry to say. :/